University of Coimbra student wins “Top-Woman Scholarship” for future engineers
The E-Redes initiative is aimed at senior students from 23 electrical and computer engineering master's degree courses across the country.
Translation: Diana Taborda
Daniela Fernandes, a student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), has just been awarded a merit scholarship by E-Redes - the primary electricity distribution grid operator in mainland Portugal.
The "Top Woman Scholarship" initiative is aimed at senior female students from 23 master's programmes in electrical engineering and computer science from all over the country. E-Redes has awarded a total of 30 merit scholarships of a total of two thousand euros as part of a programme due to start in December.
The MSc student says “I am very honoured and grateful to receive this scholarship and to have the recognition of such an important company as e-redes. It will also help me a lot with the costs of this Master's degree and my studies.” Daniela further adds "I decided to apply because I thought this was an innovative initiative and a boost for young people who, like me, want to pursue this field of study. Since I'm studying electrical engineering, a field that is still mostly dominated by men, I think it's extremely important to fight for equal opportunities and to increase the number of women in this field".
Daniela and her fellow winners will now have access to a mentoring programme with tailored support from an E-Redes mentor to help them learn more about the activity of a Distribution Network Operator, and about career opportunities in the energy sector.
The “Top Woman Scholarship” programme focuses on gender equality and the promotion of equal opportunities for women and men in access to professional careers in engineering.